, 1887-10-04
A BIRTHPLACE OF GIANTS,
Men and Women Ten Feet High anc
weighing n Ton-An Artist.

weighing n Ton-An Artist.
There is a gateway under a tenement
house on Forsyth street, near Houston,
that leads into the interior of a block
where there used to be a graveyard.
Five storied houses nave taken the place
OF the graves and the grass, and an cleo
trio light company's wires are strung over
one side OF the block so thickly that the
clothes lines have to be run in other di-
rections. In the hollow made by the ene-
ments there is a series of buildings that
have grown into one by the aocretions Of
years. These buildings are inhabited by
a curious race. There are men of all
lengths and weights, from four or Ave
feet to ten and fifteen, and as heavy az a
ton. There are women, too, some white,
clean and well formed, with shapely
limbs, and cloaks and tunics Like those Of
Mrs. Cesar and other ladies who set the
fashions some years ago.. In some rooms
OF the main building families and their
animals have been living together in har-
mony for months. There are children
with wings Ike Cupids and dancing girls
whose skirts are always at the Same
angle, Dianas with the same number of
arrows IN their quivers from one weeks
enc to another, and Mercurys always
balancing on the Same big toe n never
topping over.
One room with an extra high ceiling is
inhabited BY giants. Not a man in the
room Is under ten feet, and some Of the
women ore as tall. They are a muscular
race, and tho smaller men who como and
&c In the room take great pride In the
swelling muscles, the sturdy bones, the
clenched fists and well poised heads
Of the giants The people who in
habit other rooms In this inner build
ing are not so big, but they are equally
oomely. None Of these men or women
ever voluntarily stray out of the build
ing and over to he Bo~ery, that Is only
a few steps away At times the men
and women are changed from one build
ing to another, but they do not go of
their own accord. At long intervals they
go from their huge rooms out under the
tenement houses and into the world.
where they perch on various pedestals,
roofs and arches, and SEQ their old home
no more.
Adjoining the large house where these
men and women live from their infancy
up is a smaller building, where they are
made from zinc, copper, bronze and other
materials, and In the lofts over the statue
factory are rooms full of drawings and
models, and further up ordinary live men
at work taoking together the legs, chests,
arms, heads and aocouterments OF these
bronze giants, that are 90 to go out In
tho world and be perohed IN high to be
gazed at of men. Thousands of pounds
of copper, brass and zinc go in under the
tenement house every year and come out
fine looking statues and beautiful animals.
The next object that is expected 10 come
forth Is a 81, 900 bronze buffalo, who will
sit on the banks of the Missouri at Council
Bluffs and view the river and a railroad.
In one of the rooms Is the group of
three figures that the Arion society will
put on its new building up town. 81.
Baerer was the sculptor. From his de-
signs the molds were made, and the figures
are now almost finished, and stand twice
as high as q tall man. The figures repre-
sent Prince Carnival having a good time
with his family. He has a mustache, a
goatee, a cloak and a doublet that does
not hide his shapely legs. No matter how
cold it will be when he is perched near
the roof and the snow freezes on him,
lie will not AVE n thicker stockings
than when he emerged from the hot sand.
Prince Carnival is made OF zinc, and he,
his family and friends are worth about
81, 800. With him goes a zinc valet, a
zinc harp, a zinc harpster, and some
pretty zinc girls, all Of whom are to sit
on various parts Of the new Arion building.
1t takes several months to turn out a
zinc or bronze mar or woman, and about
the same time for q horse or angel. Tho
time varies according to the material and
degree of finish required. There must
be drawings first and then a model.
Molds are made from the model and tho
various parts are then cast. The casts
are polished and fastened together. The
joints are soldered, the tack holes covered
over, and the job is done. Copper costs
least, zinc more and bronze most. A
bronze statue costs more because 1t il
hardest TO make and hardest to put to
gether. The material also costs more, as
the best grades of COPPER, tin, zinc and
lead must be used. Zinc statues can be
soldered together, while bronze legs and
arms are tackled on after being fitted into
the body like sections Of stovepipe. A
good sized bronze man weighs over q
ton. while q copper man would be q light
weight. He is malleable and would give
indents where a prom man would stand
1t or crack.
The men who make statues are well
paid. The superintendent of castings is
a well known Frenchman and makes up
ward Of SIS, 900 q year. He does his
work by contract, and the amount he
makes varies according to his success in
making o good casting the first time. He
has a long training at the business and is
a true artist. The ether men are paid
from SEQ to $50 Il week, the burnishers
and assistants getting less. The men who
put the castings together have to be care
full to make the joints even and not no.
ticeable, but the main success Of a statue
rests with the superintendent of the cast
ing. Almost all the workmen are foreign.
The proprietor is a German, the casters
Frenchmen, the designers Germans and
Frenchmen and the molders and filters
Germans New York Sun.